Food safety guidelines call for cooking poultry products to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165° F. (about 74° C.) and cooking most beef, pork and other red meats, other than organ meats, the a safe minimum internal temperature of 145° F. (about 63° C.) as measured using a food thermometer. Typically, such temperature measurements are taken at the thickest portion of the poultry or meat product. However, poultry products such as chicken or turkey breasts or tenders and beef or pork tenderloins can have irregular shapes which often vary in thickness. As a result, some portions of the poultry or meat may be over cooked while other portions may be undercooked resulting in a food product that is less palatable. Additionally, due to variations in thickness cooking times may be prolonged or extended in order to achieve the safe minimum internal cooking temperatures. Such prolonged cooking times may also result in a meat or poultry product having a less palatable texture or taste due to loss of moisture and/or degradation of the proteins.
Accordingly, there is a need and a desire for a method for preparing poultry and/or meat products having reduced thickness. There is an additional need and desire for a meat or poultry product having increase uniformity of thickness. There is a further need for a poultry and/or meat product having an increased surface area.